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Locking up people for crime does not fix the problem. The individuals who end up in jail most of the time are people who give up on the system which has made it very difficult for them to progress, and lets admit it many times because they are poor and/or a minority.
Though we have made great strides in for equality the reality is racism is still here, yet it is harder to perceive.

Like this:

People in more equal societies live longer, have better mental health and are more socially mobile. Community life is stronger where the income gap is narrower, children do better at school and they are less likely to become teenage parents. When inequality is reduced people trust each other more, there is less violence and rates of imprisonment are lower.

If we want to build a better society, it is essential we take action now to reduce the gap between rich and poor.

In rich countries, a smaller gap between rich and poor means a happier, healthier, and more successful population.

It was a powerful moment on Democracy Now this morning as a real insider promised to testify if

Dick Cheney was put on trial for torture and other crimes. With a new book full of explicit details,

this is reminder that nobody has been held accountable.

As former Vice President Dick Cheney publishes his long-awaited memoir, we speak to Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of StateColin Powell. “This is a book written out of fear, fear that one day someone will ‘Pinochet’ Dick Cheney,” says Wilkerson, alluding to the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was arrested for war crimes. Wilkerson also calls for George W. Bush and Cheney to be held accountable for their crimes in office. “I’d be willing to testify, and I’d be willing to take any punishment I’m due,” Wilkerson said. We also speak to Salon.com political and legal blogger Glenn Greenwald about his recent article on Cheney, “The Fruits of Elite Immunity.” “Dick Cheney goes around the country profiting off of this sleazy, sensationalistic, self-serving book, basically profiting from his crimes, and at the same time normalizing the idea that these kind of policies…are perfectly legitimate choices to make. And I think that’s the really damaging legacy from all of this,” says Greenwald. [includes rush transcript]

“MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BE WRITING, SPEAKING AND PONTIFICATING ABOUT THE DISORDER THIS WEEKEND HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GROW UP IN A COMMUNITY WHERE THERE ARE NO JOBS, NO SPACE TO LIVE OR MOVE, AND THE POLICE ARE ON THE STREETS STOPPING-AND-SEARCHING YOU AS YOU COME HOME FROM SCHOOL. THE PEOPLE WHO DO WILL BE WAKING UP THIS WEEK IN THE SURE AND CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE THAT AFTER DECADES OF BEING IGNORED AND MARGINALISED AND HARASSED BY THE POLICE, AFTER MONTHS OF SEEING ANY CONCEIVABLE HOPE OF A BETTER FUTURE CONFISCATED, THEY ARE FINALLY ON THE NEWS. IN ONE NBC REPORT, A YOUNG MAN IN TOTTENHAM WAS ASKED IF RIOTING REALLY ACHIEVED ANYTHING: “YES,” SAID THE YOUNG MAN. “YOU WOULDN’T BE TALKING TO ME NOW IF WE DIDN’T RIOT, WOULD YOU?” “TWO MONTHS AGO WE MARCHED TO SCOTLAND YARD, MORE THAN 2,000 OF US, ALL BLACKS, AND IT WAS PEACEFUL AND CALM AND YOU KNOW WHAT? NOT A WORD IN THE PRESS. LAST NIGHT A BIT OF RIOTING AND LOOTING AND LOOK AROUND YOU.” EAVESDROPPING FROM AMONG THE ONLOOKERS, I LOOKED AROUND. A DOZEN TV CREWS AND NEWSPAPER REPORTERS INTERVIEWING THE YOUNG MEN EVERYWHERE ‘’’ THERE ARE COMMUNITIES ALL OVER THE COUNTRY THAT NOBODY PAID ATTENTION TO UNLESS THERE HAD RECENTLY BEEN A RIOT OR A MURDERED CHILD. WELL, THEY’RE PAYING ATTENTION NOW”

Private Bradley Manning, a 23-year-old Army intelligence analyst, was arrested and incarcerated on suspicion of leaking classified United States documents about Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as diplomatic cables of the United States embassies. There was also a video in the leaked documents now known to the world as Collateral Murder.

This video shows two American airmen in an AH-64 Apache helicopter lying to their ground controller about the presence of armed insurgents on the ground in Baghdad. The ground controller then gives them permission to fire on the Iraqi civilians. 12 civilians are killed, two of which were Reuters journalists.

Arrested in Baghdad and jailed in Kuwait, Bradley Manning was then moved to the military brig at Quantico Virginia and while kept in complete isolation allegedly awaiting trial, he was subject to treatment described by hundreds of legal experts as torture.

Bradley Manning still waits for a pre-trial hearing one year later.

Locked in a 10 by 6 foot cell for 23 hours a day without sheets, a pillow, personal effects or his glasses, and forced to sleep naked during the mandatory 7 hour sleep cycle. All of this abuse was committed under the pretense of Manning’s alleged suicide risk.

Bradley Manning’s lawyer David Coombs, had said that it was a violation of the military rules, because Quantico’s psychologist denied that Manning is suicidal.

Quantico Brig violated PFC Manning’s constitutional right to due process. The facts surrounding PFC Manning’s pretrial confinement at Quantico make it clear that his detention was not in compliance with legal and regulatory.

April 20 2010

Bradley Manning was moved to the Fort Leavenworth prison in Kansas following criticism over his nine month detention at the Quantico brig. The move was intended to show that the treatment of Manning will be much fairer now that the complaints registered have made their public and legal ‘mark’, but they did not tell us that along with the move came an apparent order for PFC Manning’s indefinate incarcination.

One of the several charges that have been put to paper but not yet read in court is cooperating with the enemy, a charge that makes Manning eligible for the death penalty. But the fact is that the cables and video, supposedly leaked by Bradley Manning, have shown the world terrifying acts that must be condemned.

Acts of what have commonly come to be called whistleblowing are driven by technologically changing times, ethics, and morals that we can readily observe when concerned people in the west seek a more just world while the moment shows that we have been deceived by our own leaders.

The truth is the pardonable innocence of Bradley Manning has been displayed by showing the world this information even if he is guilty according to the military justice system.

It was hidden but it should have been available to everyone. The United States government should have been honest and not censored or buried this information but instead released it and acted on it by investigating the perpetrators of the crimes shown in the video, not the whistleblowers.

the question we should all have in mind is: Who supports this hero?

Most people know and support Wikileaks and Julian Assange, but meanwhile, time is passing and Bradley Manning’s life is being wasted in jail… Heroic If he did release the Collateral Murder video, and incarcerated in inhumane conditions under false pretenses for a year if he wasn’t the one responsible.

Either way, it is glaringly obvious to all of us that Bradley Manning shouldn’t be the one in court as we can see when we view those cables and the atrocities he allegedly was exposing.

Free Bradley Manning!

Jail The Criminals Not The Whistleblowers!

We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.